As Life Ends, Love Begins
by AmyVS7
Summary: Emotions are running high for Rose, when a bereavement rocks the Tyler family. Will the Doctor and Rose's feelings unravel during this testing time? Ten/Rose.


Doctor Who fic:

Pairing: 10th Doctor/Rose

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Set anytime during Series 2

Summary: Emotions are running high for Rose when a bereavement rocks the Tyler family, will the Doctor and Rose's feelings unravel during this testing time?

**As Life Ends, Love Begins**

Rose's mobile rang in her pocket.

"Is that your mother _again_?" the Doctor asked, looking up from the book he was reading at the captain's seat in the console room of the TARDIS.

Rose giggled as she took the phone from her pocket "Shush you."

She answered it "Hello mum" the smile on her face suddenly dropped within seconds of answering the phone "No! Oh mum I'm so sorry, that's terrible.....Are you okay?"

The Doctor felt intrigued, placing away his book he came to stand next to Rose who was looking worried "Yeah…yeah of course…okay we'll be there in a few minutes, bye mum" and she hung up the phone, putting it away in her jacket pocket.

"Rose, what's going on?" the Doctor asked, with a worried frown.

Rose looked at him with much melancholy "It's…it's my Aunt Marie, she…she passed away."

The Doctor looked at her sorrowfully "Aww Rose, I'm so sorry, come here" and he brought her into a hug and she cried into his shoulder. The Doctor guided her to the captain's seat and they sat down, Rose buried her face into his suit and continued to grieve.

The Doctor hated seeing Rose upset, it was absolute torture for him, but there was nothing he could do, except be there to comfort her as he rubbed her arm gently.

Rose eventually stopped crying and looked up at the Doctor; mascara smudged down her face "I'm sorry, I got your suit all wet."

The Doctor gave a concerned smile "It doesn't matter, are you alright?"

Rose gave a nod "Yeah…just a shock that was all…apparently she fell down some stairs and died before the ambulance got there. It's terrible."

The Doctor took Rose's hand "How's your mum coping with it?"

"She's bearing up" Rose said as she rubbed the mascara smudges from her face "Doctor I have to go to the funeral."

He nodded "Of course, I'll set the TARDIS coordinates for your home whilst you go and wash your face, okay?"

Rose gave a small smile and kissed his cheek "Thank you" and she dashed off.

*

Ten minutes later, they were inside Jackie's flat at the Powell Estate. Rose and Jackie comforting one another, whilst the Doctor came back into the living room with three mugs of tea he had made.

"Thanks Doctor" Rose said with a warming smile.

"I didn't know you could make tea?" Jackie said, stunned.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows "Well Jackie, you learn something new everyday" and he took a sip of his own tea.

"The funeral is tomorrow" Jackie told them "All the family are coming here afterwards for some food and drinks."

"I suppose you would like me out of the way" the Doctor said, knowing Jackie would probably not want him hanging around. But Rose had other thoughts.

"Oh Doctor, no ... actually I was really hoping that you could come" Rose admitted "Could you? Please?"

The Doctor gave a small smile, knowing Rose needed him and he was more than willing to look after her "Yeah alright, got to make sure you're okay."

Rose grinned "Thank-you."

"Alright Doctor, if you're coming then you have to contribute" Jackie said "You can help me make the sandwiches and food for tomorrow."

The Doctor groaned whilst Rose giggled.

**

Hours later…

"Rose there are still some pyjama's in your drawer you can use for tonight" Jackie told her.

"Thanks mum" Rose said, gratefully.

"Doctor, do you want to sleep on the couch?" Jackie asked him.

"Nah it's alright, I'll go and sleep in the TARDIS."

"Okay fair enough" Jackie said, "Well I'm off to bed, night you two."

"Night!" Rose and the Doctor chorused, before Jackie entered her room and closed the door behind her.

The two companions stayed close together on the sofa, in comfortable silence.

"Are you sure you want to sleep in the TARDIS?" Rose asked sweetly "I don't like to think of you down there all on your own."

"I don't really trust this sofa" he bounced on it gently "Doesn't feel that comfy."

Rose giggled "Its fine! Come on stay here for the night? Please" she fluttered her eyelashes and smiled at him.

The Doctor silently cursed his weak resistance when it came to saying no to Rose; he gave a sigh "Alright Rose Tyler you win."

Rose clapped her hands quietly "Yay! Okay I'll be back in a second" she jumped off the sofa, ran into her room and got the Doctor a spare duvet and a pillow.

"Here you go" she threw them at him with a giggle.

"Thanks" he said with a smile.

"I'm going to brush my teeth and get changed, you get your bed sorted out" she instructed him and left the room.

The Doctor sighed "Women!" he mumbled before he began making himself a bed on the Tyler's sofa. Once he had done that he removed his shoes, tie and suit jacket before getting under the duvet and putting an arm behind his head to rest against.

Rose came back in the room ten minutes later, wearing a pink nightie with a small heart on the front of it; she still had her white socks on and was smiling at him. She looked so very adorable in the Doctor's eyes.

"Night then Doctor" she came over and gave him a tight hug, the two hugging for longer than necessary, the Doctor smelling in her gorgeous scent of strawberries.

"Goodnight Rose" the Doctor said as they broke apart to look at eachother "Sweet dreams" he kissed her cheek softly.

Rose saying "You too" and she rushed out of the room, a blush creeping up onto her face.

The Doctor rubbed his eyes as he lay back down "Oh Rose Tyler, what you do to me" he said very quietly to himself before turning off the living-room table light next to him.

It was well past 3am and the Doctor had woken up after hearing movement coming from inside the flat. He then began to hear muffled sobs; so the Doctor got up from his poorly constructed bed on the sofa and went closer towards the source of the noise, which soon became apparent to be emanating from Rose's bedroom.

The Doctor knocked on the bedroom door, he did not hear a reply so opened it carefully, as quietly as possible, and saw a sight that broke his hearts.

Rose was sitting up in her bed, her head down, crying quietly.

"Aww Rose!" he closed her bedroom door silently, before coming to sit next to her on the bed. She leant herself into him automatically and he put his arms around her, rocking her gently. "Shhh, Rose don't cry, come on, don't cry" he said all the soothing words that he could possibly think of.

"I had a bad dream" Rose said through her sobs "I dreamt you were dead and that I was never going to see you again! Just like my Aunt."

The Doctor felt almost on the verge of an emotional breakdown himself at seeing her like this.

"It's all okay Rose, I'm here, I won't ever leave you, never ever."

"You promise?" she said still unsure.

"I promise" he said wholeheartedly and cupped her cheek, staring into her eyes. There she saw it, trust and honesty.

Before either knew what was happening, they were kissing, neither knew who had instigated it but both of them knew they did not want to stop.

They did eventually break apart, neither saying a word; a very comfortable silence fell between them. Rose laid herself back down on the bed, bringing the Doctor with her, cuddling up to him as he lay above the duvet covers.

The Doctor brought Rose closer and into his arms; she rested her head against his chest and within seconds was fully back to sleep.

"I won't leave you … I love you too much" the Doctor whispered, knowing Rose couldn't hear him. He too fell asleep, happiness enveloping him as he did so.

**

The following morning, Jackie Tyler awoke early as usual. She got up, put on her dressing gown and slippers before heading towards the kitchen to make some tea.

She frowned as she saw the duvet and the pillow lying on the sofa, yet no one appeared to have slept there. Jackie's eyes widened and headed straight towards Rose's bedroom. She opened the door without even thinking of knocking, and stopped at the sight.

The Doctor was lying, fully dressed, above the duvet covers, whilst Rose was under them. Yet she somehow managed to be snuggled up to the Doctor, her head lying on his chest. The Doctor with his arms wrapped protectively around her.

Jackie gave a small smile at the two of them before her over-protective mothering instincts kicked in and she shouted "Oi! Doctor what do you think you're doing?!"

The two of them awoke with a start, Rose rubbing her eyes and realised where she was lying, she moved off the Doctor quickly and sat up.

The Doctor, also figuring out how their sleeping positions must have looked, gazed at Jackie worriedly "Uhh, morning Jackie."

Jackie was glaring daggers at him before she could not hold it any longer and smiled, giggling at the same time.

"How did you find yourself in here then?" Jackie asked the Doctor who was about to explain before Jackie interrupted him "Doesn't matter, anyway would you two like breakfast?"

They nodded and Jackie smiled before leaving the room.

The Doctor turned to Rose who was trying not to laugh "I thought your mother was going to kill me there for a moment!"

Rose laughed and patted his arm "She wouldn't have, not with me about." Her smile turned to a look of gratitude "Thank-you."

"What for?" the Doctor asked, puzzled.

"For coming in last night, and for staying here with me."

He smiled "Was hardly going to leave you alone in that state was I?"

Rose smiled "I'm glad you didn't, best night's sleep I've had for a long time." She reached across and hugged him, the Doctor returning the gesture. "Come on, we had better get dressed and have food, we've got to head off to the church soon" Rose informed him.

Not long later, the Doctor grabbed his things, went to the TARDIS to change and reappeared wearing a black suit and tie, complete with a white shirt underneath his suit jacket.

Rose smiled "Oh don't you look smart!" she giggled as he appeared in the doorway.

"Don't look so bad yourself" the Doctor told her.

Rose was wearing a short sleeved black dress with simple black heeled shoes.

"Thanks" Rose said shyly.

"Come on you two, are you ready?" Jackie asked, appearing out of her bedroom, wearing an outfit similar to Rose's except she had a black jacket over the top.

"Yeah we're coming" Rose said and the two of them followed her out.

Once the three of them arrived at the church, Rose and Jackie greeted their family, whilst the Doctor hanged back slightly as he didn't want to intrude.

The service went by as expected, moving speeches, hymns being sung and prayers being made. A lot of the congregation were in tears, especially the women in the room. Rose being one of them, as she held the Doctor's hand throughout the whole service.

The Doctor held Rose's hand as they, along with Jackie and everyone else, ventured outside where the coffin was to be laid in the ground. Rose watched on sadly at the graveside as people threw flowers onto the coffin, Rose started crying again and she lent into the Doctor who instinctively put an arm around her, and kissed the side of her head, rubbing her arm.

"You okay?" the Doctor whispered gently to her, as they began walking out of the graveyard, hand in hand, after the funeral was over.

Rose nodded and gave the smallest of quick smiles "Yeah I think so. I'm all cried out now" the Doctor gave a sympathetic smile and kissed the side of her head.

**

All of the family got back to the Tyler flat soon after, the Doctor feeling very out of place. He stuck to one particular corner of the living-room, eating some food and tried not to talk to many people.

Rose was being hounded by female members of her family about the mysterious man.

"Who is he? Is he with you Rose?"

Rose sighed, annoyed at telling the same story she had told many others "He's the Doctor, we are just friends, we've been travelling together for a while."

"Is that what you youngsters are calling it nowadays?" Rose's great aunt wondered.

One of Rose's cousins giggled "You and he are _so_ going out with eachother, he was so attentive to you during the funeral, I could see you both."

Rose rolled her eyes and refused to talk to them anymore and headed towards the Doctor who was very glad to see her.

"Oh Rose, thank you for coming to save me! Some of these women are giving me stares that could possibly match your mother's!"

Rose gave a small giggle "Way too nosey my family honestly, they won't stop asking questions about you. They think we're a couple."

"Well they wouldn't be the first" the Doctor said with a cheeky smile, Rose blushing slightly.

The Doctor put down his now empty plate of food "Rose I was wondering, do we have to stay for much longer? I know it's your family and the whole grieving thing and all, but can I at least go back to the TARDIS, you can still stay here for a while, i don't mind."

Rose chuckled "To be honest, I don't want to hang around here much longer either, I'll say bye to my mum and we can go."

After fifteen minutes, the Doctor and Rose returned to the TARDIS, subconsciously holding hands the whole way.

"Thank you for coming today, it meant a lot to me" Rose said sweetly as they got into the console room.

"You know I'd do anything for you Rose" the Doctor said to her.

Rose came over and hugged him; once they broke out of it the Doctor got the shock of his life as Rose began kissing him deeply, once the stunned reaction had worn off he fell into it. Both kissing for what felt like a long time. Finally parting, to see equal smiles.

"Maybe us being a couple isn't such a bad idea, y'know?" the Doctor said.

"You think so?" Rose asked, daren't hoping it to be true.

"Yeah, yeah I really do" the Doctor said happily and he and Rose kissed again, as something much more than just a timetraveller and his companion.

**

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